Eating a healthy diet these days can often be
confusing. Many foods are
advertised as being health foods, but if you look at the nutrition labels they
are actually just as bad as known ‘junk foods’.
The dairy aisle can be particularly deceiving. Yogurts are advertised as being healthy
and even able to cure most of your ailments. While yoghurts do contain some very beneficial probiotics
that can help improve digestion, unless you are eating plain unsweetened
yoghurt you may be consuming a large amount of sugar. Jalna Low Fat Vanilla Yoghurt contains
almost 11% added sugar. Activia
yoghurts, which are specifically advertised as being able to help you live a
healthier lifestyle, contain from 6% to 13% sugar depending on flavour. Compare this with products we all know
to be unhealthy such as Paul’s Regular Vanilla Custard containing 14% sugar and
cola soft drink containing 9% sugar.
Many people try to avoid sugar by eating ‘light’ products
but these often contain artificial sweeteners. Please refer to my previous articles on sweeteners for more
information on these.
Many people choose low fat dairy products to try to cut down
on their saturated fat intake.
There is still some controversy on whether or not saturated fats in
dairy need to be avoided, but the main problem is that low fat products do not
make you feel full and so you are more likely to eat more as a result. The same is true for low fat ice
cream.
Yoghurt can still be part of a healthy diet by buying
unsweetened full fat yoghurt and adding your own fruit.
Another product in the dairy aisle that can cause confusion
is milk. Some people consume
flavoured milks to try to get their calcium intake. Oak’s chocolate milk contains over 10% sugar. When you compare this to the sugar
content of the above foods it should be considered a junk food.
If you look in the ‘Health Food’ aisle of the grocery store,
you can find some other unhealthy foods. Just because a product is labeled ‘all
natural’, gluten free, or organic does not mean that it is actually good for
you. Mini Macro Wholegrain Apple
Fruit Filled Bars contain the same amount of sugar as their Gluten Free Choc
Biscuits – over 21%.
I’m not saying that you should never eat these foods, but
just that you should check nutrition labels so you are aware that these are
treats that should be consumed only on occasion along with your regular healthy
diet.
References
Activia
http://www.activia.com.au/what-is-activia
Accessed 12 August 2013
Jalna
http://www.jalna.com.au/wellbeing/nutritional-data.html
Accessed 12 August 2013
Parmalat
http://parmalat.com.au/
Accessed 12 August 2013
Woolworths Online
www.woolworthsonline.com.au
Accessed 12 August 2013
